Sa Pa: Will you buy from me ?

Sa Pa District is located in Lào Cai Province, north-west Vietnam, and 380 km north-west of Hanoi, close to the border with China. The town of Sa Pa lies at an altitude of about 1500 meters. It's a quiet mountain town and home to a great diversity of ethnic minority peoples (Hmong, Dao, Tay, Giay and Xa Pho). Most of the ethnic minority people work their land on sloping terraces since the vast majority of the land is mountainous. Before the 1990s, the district's economy was mainly based on small size agriculture. But in 1993 Sa Pa became also a holiday destination as the decision was made to open the door fully to international tourism. Tourist arrival between 1995 and 2003 grew from a total of 4,860 to 138,622. With this series I want to observe how the ethnic minorities in Sapa have now fully integrated tourism into their lives. Many new jobs are emerging. Some people are selling the things they produce and make, some are building hostels in their villages or rent a room of their own house to tourists, other are cooking in their house and kids at school are learning English to become tourist guides.